Jun 19, 2019
“That sound wasn’t an electric fly swatter. It was a gunshot!” Wow! Most of my guests on my #MakeYourMark podcast have great stories, but when you hear of ex-NFLer @Hakeem Valles’ ordeal in Haiti, you’ll be drawn right in. Hakeem and special guest Max Valles jam so much entertainment and stories in less than an hour!
“It was amazing just getting that phone call, it really didn’t feel real! You watch it on TV, you watch everybody else get the call, those emotions just immediately hit you. That was definitely the best moment of my life so far!” - Max
Hakeem’s story impresses me because he made the bold move to retire from the NFL early mostly because he was doing so well in real estate development, and it was too challenging to balance learning his playbook while looking at leasing opportunities and multi-family building. Max is still playing football, and we get to hear both brothers’ experiences surrounding football, and where both are headed going forward.
It will be hard to find two nicer guys, and you’ll truly enjoy hearing (and watching) this episode beginning to end! Enjoy!
“I’m part of a church group called the First Haitian Baptist Church, its missionary part called “all hands together”. They go to Haiti, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, but most of the people are Haitian, and we went there three days after our graduation with nurses from Villanova University, and our mission was to give medicine to different churches and orphanages across the country.” - Hakeem
“Three missionaries and I were playing a card game called spades, we were using electric fly swatters all week because it is kind of a muggy country, and in the middle of the night there was a storm. We did not have an air conditioner, so we opened our steel door to let the breeze in, all of the sudden we heard this sound and I was thinking “who’s hitting flies all this time” and was completely frozen. The guy who was at the table across from me lunged over the table and pushed me out of my chair. The sound was a gunshot, and after the gunshot I saw a foot go through the screen door, eight people ran into the house, and that guy across the table saved our lives.” - Hakeem
“I have a four-plex in
Arizona, a duplex
in Michigan, I own other land in Michigan, and on Friday we closed
a deal for seven-unit apartment building in Iowa. Now, we are
building teams in different markets that we want to focus on. You
need a solid broker, in every market you need an appropriate
management team. You need to meet them, compare their properties,
compare how they manage, how’s the percentage they take on a lease,
and those types of things. Then I usually find a former player from
the NFL that lives in that market, and try to connect with them as
well, so if we do projects in that market there will be a potential
investor.” - Hakeem
Some Topics we talk about in this episode:
4:23 “We were always on the sidelines watching” [Growing up in Sicklerville, NJ]
7:37 “Monmouth was the only school that stayed faithful to me” [Hakeem’s recruiting process]
9:25 “They had us lifting weights when I was in the eighth grade before I even went to the school” [Max’s high school football experience]
10:45 “It was a blessing in disguise” [Playing at the University of Virginia]
11:45 “Five slices of pizza at the end of every meal” [Hakeem’s switch from wide receiver to tight end]
14:18 “We were playing volleyball every night with a jump rope we tied to a clothing line” [Missionary work in Haiti]
18:21 “That sound wasn’t an electric fly swatter. It was a gunshot” [Haitian bandits’ attack on the compound]
22:27 “Both of my shoulders feeling like they’re almost popped out because my arms were tied so tight behind my back” [Aftermath of the attack]
24:42 “That was definitely the best moment of my life so far” [Max’s NFL draft day]
26:25 “When they didn’t draft me I was pretty happy” [Hakeem’s free agent signing]
28:17 “At the end of the day you’re a puppet controlled by 32 of the wealthiest people in the world” [Lack of job security in the NFL]
33:35 “I’m looking at my in-season playbook and half of the page is Dallas Cowboys who to scout this week, and the other half of the page is investors to call, brokers to call, properties to check out” [Hakeem’s transition from football to real estate]
37:36 “We couldn’t fit the stairwell through the front door, but the window was big enough on the second floor” [From house flipping to property managing]
44:14 “It’s a big humbling experience … but I like Tim Horton’s” [Max’s move to the CFL]
48:25 Hit Your
Mark
How to get involved
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